MemberAdvocate's Blog

The following features have been updated and will be available on BlackPlanet after 3 AM on Tuesday, November 10th:

Full Name Display: If you opted to display your name when you created or edited your profile then your first and last name will appear in your “Personal Info” widget on your profile, as well as in your browser’s title in the uppermost left hand corner. This feature makes it easier for your real friends to find you on BlackPlanet. You do not have to display your name on BlackPlanet – this is an OPTIONAL privacy setting which you may change at any time. If your privacy setting was set to display your name then you received a note in advance to make you aware of the change. If you are not sure if you have your name set to display, or if you would like to take advantage of this new feature, log in to manage your privacy settings here:

http://www.blackplanet.com/your_page/manage/privacy.html (available now)

Search by Location: We consolidated Country & Zip Code to make searching by location in Member Find much easier. Country is defaulted to the United States where you can then indicate the number of miles from a particular Zip Code to search. If you prefer to search by City/State simply click on the link below the Zip Code entry field. To perform a search by location click here:

http://www.blackplanet.com/user_search/index.html (available 11/10 after 3 AM)

Launch of BlackSoulLove.com: BlackPlanet is pleased to announce the launch of our new sister site BlackSoulLove.com. Powered by BlackSingles, BlackSoulLove.com is a dating community founded with the idea that Black singles looking for dating opportunities should have a place that makes the search easy and hassle-free. To make it even easier, we’ve added a feature to BlackPlanet dating that allows you to share your dating profile info so you don’t have to start the process from scratch. If you want to extend your dating search beyond BlackPlanet click here:

http://www.blackplanet.com/dating/search/index.html.topmatch.noresults/index.html (available 11/10 after 3 AM)

Thank you,
Member Advocate

We are tending to some necessary system maintenance overnight tonight that will cause BP to be down from 2 AM until 8 AM on Friday, Oct. 30th.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Here at BlackPlanet  we’re all about finding ways to help you find your friends and to meet new people on our site. We’re pleased to introduce the new and improved Member Find page. We’ve updated the layout to enable you to see more of the great people in our community, and we’ve improved the search so that you can find the person (or people) you are looking for with a few simple clicks. We also have included pagination at the top of the results. Take a look at the page below to see some of the big changes to this page:

We hope you are as excited about these changes as we are. As always keep your suggestions coming. We are listening!

Member Services  

Site Update: Release 60
 

New Log-In Module

The Login page & Homepage are now one and the same! The URL www.BlackPlanet.com now leads you directly to the Homepage. We've made it easier for current members to login, new members to sign up, and everyone to navigate the site right from Home.

Those who have www.BlackPlanet.com saved as a favorite or bookmarked in your browsers don’t worry, we will automatically direct you to Home. You can either use the log-in module highlighted next to the Large Alert area or click the log-in link located in the upper right hand corner and log in from there if you wish to see your site security badge.

Your personal dashboard with links to your Notes, Friend Invites, Group Invites, Page Log, etc. is still exactly where you expect it to be once you log in.


New Site Activity Alerts

When you receive a new note, friend invite, or page log hit, the links to those sections on the top right navigation change to red. Now the Homepage dashboard is not the only place to find out what is new. This also makes it easier to tell when someone is IM'ing you. It is an instant notification that there is new activity under one of these sections.*

(Notes, Invites, Page Log will only change color upon you refreshing the page or moving to a new page.)

Navigation Tool Bar: Blogs

Due to overwhelming member feedback, The Blogs section has returned to the main navigation area. To access BP's blog area mouse over the "Look & Listen" tab. Find who has the most popular blogs on BlackPlanet.com

The navigational tool bar is a work in continual progress. Please feel free to help us give you a better site experience with your comments and suggestions.

Please be aware of a link that is being left on your Page Comments that is redirecting you to enter you username and password. Do not enter your information. This is not from BLACKPLANET.COM. Please check the spelling of the URL. If you believe that your profile has been compromised please change your password. Click on My Account and change password. We are currently working on resolving this issue. We will give you an update when the issue has been resolved.

Saying Hi!!!

 After considering your feedback, BlackPlanet would like to introduce a tool to enhance your ability to meet other members. This new tool offers a suggestive set of members who you might want to "Say Hi". If you are not interested, you can minimize this tool to the left And continue your exploration on the site. Throughout your current visit, this tool will stay minimized.

BP will be down for a few hours on Saturday morning for scheduled site maintenance. Thank you for your patience while we make some necessary updates. Enjoy the weekend!

It's that time again!

Over the last month our development team has been working hard at making some site improvements. We are thrilled that they have been able to complete so many site enhancements!

Send a Gift!

Now you have the ability to send a gift to a member directly from your Page Log.

 New and Improved Dashboard!

All the key areas which are update based on your engagement of the site will be highlight in the white area. You are still able to manage your guestbook, my groups and make changes and add media to your personal profile from the dashboard.

 Status Update!

User's status update can now be seen in memberfind results. All members who use the status update will now have another way of displaying their status. Members who update their status will now see it on the memberfind section. (the status update takes 1 minute to update.) Surveys! We have a new survey vendor for earning member points. Peanut Labs will give you more chance on getting member points.

Make BP your Homepage!

Why not make Blackplanet.com your homepage, now you can follow the link for instructions. http://www.Blackplanet.com/home/make_hp_instructions.html Please let us know what you think about the changes.

As always, we are listening!

Member Services

It’s that time again!  Over the last month our development team has been working hard at making some site improvements.  We are thrilled that they have been able to complete so many site enhancements!

Personal Security Badge

We are pleased to introduce a new tool that will help prevent “phishing” or the illegal capture of your user name and passwords by spammers.  The tool is called the “personal security badge.”

A personal security badge is a tool that helps protect your personal information.  It is a unique identifier that you create.  After you create it you will see it on the login page every time you log into the site from your personal computer.  

If you are logging in from a public computer or someone else’s computer you will not see your personal security badge.

Creating a personal security badge is not mandatory but we recommend it.  It is another tool we have added to help reduce the amount of spam and we want all our members to help us fight the battle!

Spammers create fake pages that look like real BlackPlanet pages and they lure you into entering your username and password so they can log into your account and send spam.  This illegal practice is called Phishing and we are committed to helping our members avoid these scams.

After you create a Personal security badge you will always see it on the log in page of BlackPlanet.  When you see the badge you can be confident that you are not giving your personal information away.

Please let us know what you think about the changes.  As always, we are listening!

Member Services